Ethiopia Mother Station Natural is grown and harvested in Bombe, Sidama, a place known for its rich vegetation and climate. The coffee is produced by local farmers and processed at the Qonqana washing station, named for a river that passes through the area. The washing station was the first and largest built by Daye Bensa Coffee, a company run by brothers Asefa and Mulugeta Dukamo that has built numerous mills in the Sidamo region and also exports and grows coffee. Mill owners, Daye Bensa, make use of environmentally friendly depulping and pressurized sorting machinery. They also compost and have a dedicated waste water treatment. Being one of the first in the area, the washing station is often referred to as “The Mother Station” by locals. The Ethiopia Mother Station Natural is a wonderfully rich and complex coffee, tiered with round, fruit forward notes and exquisite aromatics. We are quite fond of the lighter registers that showcased notes of merlot, strawberries, and a balanced brightness. The darker registers we found to be rather tasty, as they exhibited velvety notes of dark chocolate, cloves and roasted marshmallows. All in all, this is a sophisticated coffee that shines in an array of brew methods. We’d recommend it as a bright and complex pour over, or a juicy and sweet contemporary espresso shot.
